Learning Stories as Assessment for Liberation

I wrote the following letter to a child named Cecilia and her family. Letters such as this are central to the assessment approach called Learning Stories that I use in my pre-K class. Because these letters are used to inform families and children about the connection between the activities the child is doing and their ongoing learning, they include three parts: a description of their activity, a connection to what is being learned, and an idea about future growth.

Dear Cecilia,

Today in the block area you built a camera. You used the nesting boxes that have different magnifications and put one in front of the other. You put the toy people on the other side of your camera and looked through your lens at them. You said they look funny!

You reached around with your hand to take them and said, “My hand surprised me!” It looked bigger than usual through your camera. Then you lined up the red cylinders in front of the camera lens. You said that you wanted to see what they looked like. I looked through your camera. They looked amazing!

What Learning is Happening Here?

Cecilia, this is such a creative use of our classroom materials. You thought like a scientist and experimented with putting different materials in front of your camera. You showed curiosity and focus.

What’s Next?

I wonder if you might like to invite other children to look through your camera. What does it look like if you put the boxes in a different order? What objects might you like to see through your camera?

From,

Helen